Beyond the Fading Sun
by girlofeverycolor
Summary: "Through the window I see a cheerful iris; a lone, white flower in the springtime dusk."


**I do not own Bleach, the characters, or the world. I only own my own characters and their stories.**

I'm so excited to finally post this! It's been in my head for four years and I've finally been able to write it! It's my NaNoWriMo story, and one that's very close to my heart. I hope you like it as much as I love writing it.

One thing I always like to do is add double meanings to things, so the title and summary both have a double meaning. I hope you stay long enough to find out what they mean.

I always like to read comments, especially constructive criticism, so please don't refrain from being brutally honest. The only way to get better is for someone to tell me what I'm doing right and wrong. Or, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

* * *

_I dreamed a thousand new paths… I woke and walked my old one._

**Prologue, part 1**

_~Akemi~_

_Fear_. That was what I was feeling. The chest constricting, the difficulty breathing, the inability to think rationally. That's what this was. That was what had been haunting me for hours.

The memory of the hollow extending it's tentacle darted through my mind. My eyes flew open. Around me, my squad members were cheerful, laughing and hooting, excited about the day's work. Excited they were able to heal. Their job was over now, now it was the first relief team's job to heal the wounded at the infirmary. We could help, but our main job was to assist on the battlefield. They only called on us if they were short handed.

Still, it would be nice to be doing _something_.

Mind made up, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and left quietly, no one noticing my absence. Why would they? I was a leader in the fifth relief team, but an unseated officer in the squad. Which was the way it needed to be. Like this, no one could possibly notice me. I could do my job and keep going through the days. And the best way not to be noticed was not to call attention to oneself.

But that was shot to hell.

Again, the memory of the hollow surfaced itself, persistent little shit. I shoved it away as my chest constricted again. I couldn't think about that. I'd go insane.

For a second time I realized what this strange feeling was. It had been so long since I had acknowledged the emotion; it was like a stranger, or a childhood friend who had been lost to time. In a way it was familiar, but only in the suffocating feeling it let off. If I lingered too long in it I would drown.

That had already been established.

Instead, I slipped into the infirmary, donning gloves and tying back my sleeves. As I watched my peers moving through the relief station, I noticed a pattern, and moved to the room they seemed to avoid. Sure enough, there he sat, arms bracing his body on the edge of the bed, head bent, and blue hair ruffled and blood-caked from battle. He was bandaged in several places, but most areas he had been left untreated, if not bleeding. I noticed my own handiwork in his flesh wounds.

As I approached, he raised his head, icy blue eyes boring into mine: a challenge. "What the hell are you doing here, Sasaki?"

"Healing you, apparently," I replied with a hint of sarcasm. "Did you really get hit that hard in the head?"

Of course he glared at me for this, but I chose to ignore it. It was much easier to avoid the memories while I was trying to one-up Grimmjow. His lips curled down in a scowl, the last remaining piece of his hollow mask - a panther's right jawbone - followed the line easily. Pissed off, he looked much more fearsome, which was probably why no one had bothered trying to heal him since I had on the battlefield. Even sitting on the bed he was a monster, muscles showing through the layer of flesh that seemed to tightly stretch over them. It was just another reminder that he was an Arrancar, not a Shinigami.

"Let me see your arm," I said, ignoring his continuous glare.

"Why don't you heal my head first if you want me to think straight?" I met his eyes. They hadn't softened. I found the wound easily - a deep cut just over his right eye. I had patched it up so it would stop bleeding, but the flesh was still angry and drizzled blood down his face, obscuring the small blue marks he had at the corners of his eyes.

"Eh," I said, taking his arm by force. "I'd rather you be a numb doll for a while longer." He growled instinctively, but I didn't mind it. It was a gesture I'd grown used to over the years.

A second nature, I pulled my own reiatsu from my core and focused it in my hand, holding it over his wound. As soon as the reiatsu touched his wound, it sank into the hole and pulled at Grimmjow's own reiatsu, helping him to heal himself. He watched without a word. By now, this was the normal routine.

Next I moved to his back. A bandage had been placed haphazardly along it, so I tore it off so I could get straight to the injury. He merely flinched as it pulled at his skin. "You know, it might be a good idea to actually let someone else heal you. You'd be in and out of here in no time."

"They're all rude little shits."

I narrowed my eyes as I began healing. It had been eighty two years; how long were they going to pull this out?

As the flesh tugged at itself and melded together, Grimmjow said, "I heard about your little stunt on the battlefield." I could hear the smirk in his voice, but that wasn't what made me hesitate. The reiatsu faltered and I saw the muscles in his back move as he shifted.

_"Hadou number thirty-three: __Soukatsui__!"_

The memory hit again. I tried to pull myself together and focus on the healing reiatsu. "What stunt?" I asked, trying to keep my voice light. I knew he could hear the quiver in my voice, but he decided not to mention it, thank goodness. Grimmjow always had a nasty habit of adding insult to injury.

"Don't pretend like you don't know; the whole division's talking about it. That's all I've been hearing all day." His voice had grown somber, although it was still sharp.

"You do know it's rude to eavesdrop, don't you?" I laughed once without humor, and he scowled again as I moved to his front. I was planning to work on his head wound, but his expression stopped me.

"The Hadou," he said, acting as if he hadn't heard me. "You used the Hadou to protect those men." His fierce gaze was pushing me to admit it, but I wouldn't.

"_Why the hell are you even trying_?" The new memory caught me off guard and I had to look away. Pulling off my gloves, I sighed.

"I didn't do anything." I forced, my voice sharp. I couldn't admit it. To admit it meant that it had been real.

"Fine, say what you want," he growled, leaning back against the wall, arms crossed. "Now how about my head?" He smirked, knowing he caught me off guard and distracted me into taking off my gloves.

I glowered at him. How nice it would be to smack him across the face, but that would be pointless. He was like a rock, so it would only hurt me.

That had already been established.

"You can put up with my squad members if you want your head healed," I retorted and marched out of the room. I could feel him smiling like a gleeful villain into my back, but I didn't turn around.

It was still busy in the infirmary, but I couldn't stay. I had to get outside. I had to get away from this suffocating feeling. Again, no one noticed my disappearance, and outside the wind chill immediately cleared my head. A blanket of grey winter clouds hung low in the sky, threatening snow, but it wasn't nearly cold enough for that. It was cold enough to make me shiver, though, and I headed straight towards a small crevice between two buildings to hide from the wind. Once inside, I could watch the shinigami running around but no one could see me. Here, I was safe. I wouldn't be needed for awhile, and no one could watch if I decided to fall apart.

As soon as I was settled the memory hit, this time not wavering and demanding that it stay. The hollow had killed so many shinigami it seemed pointless to continue the battle, but we were already there and the shinigami fighting it wouldn't rest. We were sent when things started to get out of hand; when the shinigami realized their opponent wouldn't go down without a fight.

_It was a raging monster, with tentacles that took out most of the men and women, and injured dozens of others._

_"Let me fight, dammit!" Grimmjow growled as I sealed him in a simple Hadouu._

_"No, you'll get yourself killed before you quit. Your injuries are bad enough."_

_I didn't bother to wait for him to deny this before I stepped out of the pseudo-relief station and back into the thick of things to tend to the worst and the dying. They would eventually be brought back here to be taken back to the Seireitei, but until then, most of our relief team was out in the field, tending to the critical wounds and transporting them back._

_I passed Takana trying to restrain one shinigami in a Hadouu who insisted his injuries were mere scrapes while he was pooling blood at his feet. I smiled, knowing full well that Takana would rather let the man back into the action, as I would, but we were under orders._

_I used shunpo to step back to where I had been treating two men. One had been trying to help the other get to safety when they were both flung into trees. The first's head had been cracked open and the other had a crushed lung. I had already stabilized the man's head and was working on the man with the crushed lung when a third shinigami was flung towards us, his arm missing and his torso slashed. His comrade with the crushed lung pointed to him and choked out, "Fir-rst." Of course now that I had returned, he was worse-off, beginning to drown in his own blood. I worked quickly, head-wound guy guarding nearby to ward off any attacks._

_No sooner had I stopped the bleeding than a tentacle pierced through head-wound guy's chest, rendering him immobile. As he sunk to the ground, my blood ran cold as I looked over my shoulder. The tentacle that had attacked head-wound guy flung him to the ground while another shot straight for me._

_Without thinking, I gathered reiatsu into my hands and shouted, __"Hadou number thirty-three: __Soukatsui_!" realizing what I had done just as the blasts of blue flame shot from my hands and impaled the tentacles, rendering them useless on the ground.

_It was too late to take the action back. Not only had the two men I had been treating saw, but also Takana who had made his way over to help me, his eyes wide beneath his mop of black hair._

_One, only seated officers used a Hadou of that strength. Two, I hadn't even bothered to mutter the incantation, which most everyone else needed to do below a Lieutenant level. Three, I had just been noticed._

The emotion returned, stopping air flow and making me uncomfortable. Was it just as Grimmjow had said? Was everyone talking about it? _Had_ it reached Captain Unohana's notice by now? _Would_ it? And if it did, what would happen then? Surely I wouldn't be kicked out just by using a Hadou, but I might be promoted. Just because I knew my secret didn't mean anyone else had to. That was why it was called a secret.

The idea released a thousand butterflies in my stomach. How the hell would I lead anybody? The notion was completely ridiculous.

And incredibly untrue. No one had contacted me yet. No one had said two words to me since Takana said, "Let me help you," even though he didn't make eye contact. There were shinigami in the squad who fought in battles, but nothing of that level.

The Hadou spell resounded in my mind again, my own words echoing back at me. I shut my eyes, trying to get away from the memory. If there was ever a time I wanted to escape from a memory, now was the time. Hell, I just wish I could go back and tell myself not to use that Hadou. Any other one, but that one. The only reason I used it was because I had been practicing with it the week before and had finally mastered it, after months of trying. It was in the back of my mind, and was automatically the first one I had called upon when in danger.

* * *

Even though my eyes were shut, I didn't miss the fluttering of reiatsu coming my way. I tried to ignore it, knowing it was a hell butterfly come to deliver a message, but it landed on my knee anyway. Immediately I heard the Lieutenant's voice, clear as day in my head, as if she was sitting here in the crevice beside me. "Sasaki-san, please report to Unohana-taicho's office sometime before the end of the day. She would like to see you. Thank you." The hell butterfly fluttered away, it's job finished.

I opened my eyes to stare after it, but it was already gone.

"Sometime before the end of the day" automatically meant "now" with the Captain, but it was a nicer way of putting the command. Groaning, and scared shitless, I made my way towards her office, knowing exactly what this would be about.

But, I realized, if I played it off as if I haven't done anything she might not bring it up. This could be something completely different than the incantation-less Hadou.

As I made my way towards her office, however, as healers and shinigami alike saw me, they would either divert their attention or make a large circle around me as if I had the plague.

Oh yeah, everyone knew. Which meant Captain Unohana knew too. Nothing ever stayed quiet in the Gotei 13, rumors and gossip alike always spread like wildfire. How, I wasn't too sure, but it probably had something to do with nearly everyone knowing each other, and being bored to tears off the battlefield.

As I entered the seated-officer's offices, I checked in with an attendant, who kneeled and knocked on the Captain's door, announcing my presence. When I heard a calm, "You may send her in," my stomach dropped. In the back of my mind, I knew I shouldn't be afraid, but I also shouldn't have used that Hadou.

I slipped through the door the attendant offered me, bowed to my Captain, and kneeled before her. She was working at her desk, filling out paperwork of some kind. She didn't look up at once, but took her time finishing what she was writing. I didn't dare interrupt, but instead watched her. Her movements were graceful, as they usually were, and she was slightly bent over the paperwork in concentration. Her black hair was perfect as always, braided and coming to meet beneath her chin so that the braid continued down her front.

After several minutes of listening to my heart beat furiously in my ears, she placed the pen aside and jostled the papers, tapping them against her desk to get them straight. As she laid them aside, her deep blue eyes flicked towards me.

"You may calm down, Sasaki-san, you are not in trouble," she said kindly, only making my heart skip into a faster pace. Of course she would be able to know! My emotions only echoed in my reiatsu! I took a few deep breaths before realizing it was useless and reigned in my spiritual pressure instead. As if reacting on cue, my body calmed down, instinctively readying itself for battle even though there was no danger here.

None of the fatal kind, at least.

I felt calmer immediately. "What happened to those men I was treating before?" I asked before I could stop myself. I genuinely wanted to know.

Captain Unohana smiled kindly, but her eyes held sadness. "Ito-san, with the collapsed lung survived. However, Mochizuki-san, did not."

I nodded, and silence echoed for a moment. I could feel her watching me, but I did not look up. Finally, she said, "Sasaki-san, do you know why you are here?"

I still didn't look up. I couldn't bring myself to. "It probably has something to do with the way I reacted on the battlefield, today."

Out of the corner of my eye, she nodded. "Yes. First, I want to congratulate you on such an impressive Hadou." My head shot up, completely in shock. She was smiling. I was apprehensive, but sudden pride filled my chest. "Where did you learn to use one of such strength?"

I was nervous again. I could speak of my secret, or I could choose to ignore it. With Captain Unohana, though, it was best to admit to it. I bit my lip, trying to find my words. "I- I train in my spare time, and I've been trying to master as many as I can."

"How high can you go without reciting the incantation?"

"The one I used today - _Hadou 33_ is the highest." I wanted to add, "I just mastered it last week," but I knew she would take that as pride, and Captain Unohana was not a fan of pride, so I stayed silent. For a moment, so was she as she regarded me. Even though it had been less than fifteen minutes, my knees had already begun to ache from kneeling. Genetics was to blame, as my father had also had weak knees.

"Well, I am very proud of your accomplishment, Sasaki-san, however, I feel that 4th Squad is not the place that you need to be."

I was getting kicked out! How could I have ever thought I might get a promotion? However, getting kicked out was ten times better than a promotion. I wouldn't have to lead anybody, but I would loose forever to Kouki.

"I would place you in our battle regiment, but I think you would be quite bored there," she said, folding her hands in front of her on the desk. Her eyes never left mine. Suddenly, she smiled, her eyes crinkling. "However, Ukitake-taicho has heard of your skill and has extended an offer to you. It seems that he needs a new Lieutenant since his last one perished a few years ago."

Inside, I shriveled. I was being kicked out, and promoted. This was not my day at all. Not only was I being promoted, but I was being promoted to the cursed 13th Squad's Lieutenant position. No one lasted more than thirty years in that position. Most turned up dead. Dread filled me, and I knew the color had left my face, but Captain Unohana smiled sweetly, obviously seeing my fear.

However, she smiled as if I was just excited to have such an opportunity. "Would you like to take him up on the position?" Which translated to, 'You will take this position.'

I bowed low so that she could not see my face as I forced out the words, "I will go where I am needed, Taicho;" words that were so familiar on my tongue they no longer burned.

* * *

"I need a drink," I said.

I had left the 4th division as soon as the day had ended and immediately made my way over to the 8th division, where I knew Hana would be working. She was there, finishing paperwork for the day with her Lieutenant, Nanao. I could barely stand to look at the armband that Nanao wore; it was a reminder of what was awaiting me tomorrow.

Hana didn't look up, even as I leaned against the back of the sofa. She sat there helping Nanao fill out the day's paperwork while Nanao sat at the desk.

"Are you sure that's wise, considering that you have a new job tomorrow?" I could hear the smirk in her voice as she hid her face behind her long golden hair. Even though her light waves were pushed gently over her shoulder, her bangs shrouded her face as she leaned over the paperwork in her lap.

"How do you know?" I asked incredulously. Captain Unohana and I had been the only ones in the office, and no one else would have known unless you were standing right outside the door - the attendant had heard, I realized, and tensed. Could I just kill something now?

Hana finally looked up, her violet eyes looking at me like I should know better. With her sweeping bangs and tiny features in her face, she looked like she should be smiling rather than giving me that look. More than anything Hana always looked like an over-grown child. Her hands were small, her nose, her feet, and even though she was just barely shorter than I was, I felt like I was ten years older in both maturity and age, even though she was the older one of the two of us. "Are you really asking me that?"

"Yes, the entire Gotei 13 knows, Akemi-san," Nanao said from her place at the desk, not looking up.

"Are you serious?"

"No, but most ranking officers know at least. You should know," she finally looked up, pushing her glasses further up her nose. "The Captain is incredibly excited to be getting a new Lieutenant." And by Captain, I knew she meant Ukitake.

I could only smile, but even that was forced.

I looked back down at Hana, who had donned a smug smile on her face. "What?" I snapped.

"I knew you couldn't stay in 4th Squad for long." I nearly hit her. I wanted to punch that smile right off her face.

"Don't you dare say, 'I told you so'!" I said, pushing her shoulder instead of punching her and walking around to sit at the other end of the sofa.

The smile grew wider. Could it grow any wider?

I couldn't take it. "So can we go get drinks? Please?"

Hana nodded in her quick way. "Sure! But we're picking up Ren and Tetsuya-kun first. They'll want to come."

I hid my face in my hands. It wasn't as if I didn't want them to come, but if we were picking them up, they would most likely be at… "Do we really have to stop by the 11th Squad?"

Hana hid her laugh in a sigh. "Oh come on. It'll be fun."

"_You're_ not the one who'll get commented on." I growled. I saw Nanao shoot us a glare. I knew we were interrupting her, but at the moment I didn't particularly care.

"Ah! And I bet Taiki-kun and Rangiku-chan would like to come, too! Nanao-chan, do you want to come?" Hana continued as if she hadn't heard me. I covered my face with my hand again. Hana's excitement was usually catching, but today was not my day to let myself be caught by it.

Nanao looked up, slight confusion written on her face. She obviously hadn't been paying attention, but had been trying to ignore Hana's incessant excitement. "Perhaps, but after this is finished, of course." Hana nodded anyway, as if this was the answer she'd been hoping for.

"And of course everyone will get there sooner or later. Akemi, you should go tell Ren and Tetsuya-kun and I'll go get Taiki-kun and Rangiku-chan." Her gaze settled on mine and never left. She was just like Captain Unohana. Her words were rarely phrased in a request when speaking to Ren or me.

* * *

It was nearly dusk by the time I reached the 11th division. Hana had insisted on finishing her stack of the reports before leaving, and I wasn't going to go to the 11th division without the excuse to get away as quickly as possible. Maybe it was because I had been in the 4th squad for nearly eighty years and the 11th squad looked down on them so much, or maybe it was because the shinigami of the 11th squad truly made me uncomfortable, but I hated dealing with any of them, save for the few I actually got along with.

I highly doubted that my change of squad would alter my feelings toward the pigs.

The thing about the 11th squad was that even though they were fighting barbarians, nearly anyone could walk into their division as if it were their own. Usually, as I suspected the case was now, they were at their training grounds watching a fight go on and cheering like mindless idiots.

I was correct. No one was around, but as soon as I heard cheering from the back of the barracks, I used shunpo to get over there quickly. At the center was Ikkaku and Ren, using wooden swords and battling it out as if it were death they were chasing. Away from the 11th squad shinigami stood Tetsuya, arms crossed over his broad chest and leaning against the wall, watching Ren. His eyes were hard and calculating, but his mouth was upturned in a small smile. Even though he was from the 7th squad, he looked like he should belong in the 11th. Tattoos covered his arms and half-bared torso, as well as scars that had an odd way of finding themselves incorporated into the tattoos. A long scar even traveled from beside his left eye down to just above the crease of his mouth. As I moved over towards the young man, it hit me again just how big he was. He towered over me by several inches and his muscles made him seem even bulkier. It wasn't as if I had only met him once or twice, but it was always weeks in between seeing him.

If he noticed me approach and lean against the wall next to him, he didn't take note of it. Instead, he silently watched Ren, which I pulled my attention to as well. Next to Tetsuya, I was safe from the 11th squad swine who jeered and cheered at the two battling.

Even though the fight hadn't ended yet, both parties were covered in bruises and bleeding in some areas where the wood had become too rough against their skin, or where they had hit the ground. Even though Ikkaku was a seat above Ren, they were on pretty even footing.

"Congratulations on your promotion," Tetsuya said quietly, his deep voice barely above a growl. I looked up at him, but he hadn't looked away from the fight.

I scowled. "Does everybody really know?"

He looked down at me, finally, and raised his eyebrows. "You're surprised?"

I turned back to the fight at hand and folded my hands behind my back to cushion my back from the wall. "Not really, but I hate that everyone keeps congratulating me."

He smiled, a soft thing that was only a ghost of what it was when he was around Ren, and turned back to watch Ren deflect a blow to the head by Ikkaku before dealing her own couple swiftly. Of course, Ikkaku knocked these back as well and drove her to the border of the mat before she ducked beneath a blow, smacked at his leg, and rolled away from him. She was several inches shorter than Ikkaku, so it was somewhat humorous to watch the two of them fight.

Heck, it was humorous to watch her fight period.

"Why?" Tetsuya asked. "You deserve to be congratulated, so just take it."

"I didn't mean to use the Hadou, though. I was just trying to protect my charges." I said.

He bent down to my level, looked me in the eye, and said, "Exactly."

I didn't know how to respond, so I didn't try. He returned to his height after a moment and continued watching the fight. The clack of wood was suddenly the only sound. Ren must have said something to piss Ikkaku off, and they were both suddenly going at each other as if their lives depended on it. Ikkaku berated Ren, and while she tried to deflect every blow, he danced around her, backing her into a corner, but as he took a step, she tripped him and pushed him back with her sword. Lunging, she caught him off guard and managed to hit his arm before he regained his composure and knocked her against the thigh. In a real battle, she wouldn't even be able to stand, much less keep fighting as she was. Then, there was an opening, and Ren's sword found Ikkaku's throat and Ikkaku's sword found Ren's stomach. They stood there, huffing and bleeding for a long moment before Ikkaku's face stretched into a wide grin, his eyes still sparkling from the match. He said something to her, that no one else could hear, and she replied cooly before they both stepped away from each other and bowed respectfully.

I would never understand 11th squad. They each got several slaps on the back, but Ren made her way over to where Tetsuya and I stood while Ikkaku declined all requests for another match. He shot a glance towards us briefly before heading into the barracks.

"Hey, you," Ren said as she walked over to us. At first, I thought she was speaking to Tetsuya, and then I realized she was staring at me. "New Lieutenant, huh?"

I was so tired of defending myself against my new rank that I simply said, "Yeah."

"Well don't sound so excited about it!" She was grinning even through the bruises and blood. Her usually spiky burgundy hair was now mussed and caked in blood. Whether or not it was her own, judging from the mock battle that had just taken place was another matter entirely. Her grey eyes shone with excitement for me, large enough to be a child's, and her stature didn't deny it. She was incredibly short. Now, seeing her next to Tetsuya, it was laughable. She was over a foot shorter than Tetsuya and didn't even make it close to coming up to his shoulder. Maybe his elbow. All of her features were more child-like than even Hana's but I knew she had been around the longest of all three of us, having lived in the human world until she died. We only knew that much because she and Tetsuya had come to the Shinigami Academy through Rukongai, the place where deceased human souls collected, and she had been there for an unknown number of years. Time there wasn't really observed.

Her expression softened, though, when she took in my grimace to bear the praise. "I bet you need a drink though."

I sighed. "You have no idea."

She smiled, her eyes kind; the excitement was slowly disappearing. "Let me go change and get cleaned up and Tetsuya and I will join you."

I returned her smile as Tetsuya said, "You're going to make decisions for me, now?" We both shared a glance before looking at him. His eyes were smiling, but his arms were still crossed.

"But of course. That's the number one rule of love." She smiled as she turned and began to walk away, but Tetsuya reached out quickly and pinched her butt, making her squeal and turn as if to scold him, but her eyes only held adoration.

"I didn't need to see that," I murmured, mostly to myself, but I knew Tetsuya heard.

"You know you like it."

"Not entirely."

We exchanged a pointed look.

"We'll find you someone one of these days." I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Well you'd better hurry," I replied, looking back at 11th squad. I could see some of them looking towards us in shock. I highly doubted they had suddenly noticed my figure. "I'm nearly an old maid."

Tetsuya growled in laughter, but it was softer that Grimmjow's growl had been. Grimmjow was always one to be pissed off and intimidating. Tetsuya was the one to be warm and friendly. What was even stranger was the two were nearly the same height, and about as scary looking as the other. However, the biggest difference was that Grimmjow was about ten times more powerful than Tetsuya ever wished he could be and Tetsuya was more bulky in his upper half than Grimmjow ever could be.

Silence settled between the two of us. It wasn't awkward, but neither one of us was ever up for making decent conversation, and so silence was often preferred. The next mock battle had begun and ended and the third battle had just begun as Ren came running through the crowd of people towards us, her comrades making way for her without complaint. She was grinning and patched up nicely, her short hair spiked and clean of blood as usual. She had decided to don a pink scarf with green pom-poms tied to the ends; one I remembered her Lieutenant, Yachiru, had made her for New Year's two years ago. As intimidating as she was in a fight, no one could ever take her seriously outside of one.

"You two lugs ready?" she asked and disappeared in a flash of shunpo. Tetsuya was the next to disappear, and after another look at the battle, I disappeared too.

The best bar in the Seiretei was The Iron Fist, which was where we headed and where we found Hana, Rangiku, and Taiki waiting for us, having already gotten a booth big enough to fit ten more people.

"Jeeze, Hana, are we expecting a party?" I asked as I slid in next to Rangiku, Lieutenant of the 10th Squad.

Before I could draw my next breath, Rangiku had engulfed me in a back-breaking hug, her voluptuous breasts engulfing my face so that even if my lungs weren't being crushed, I could not breathe at all. I thought back to my charge on the battlefield and wondered if this was what he had felt like today. "R-Rangiku-fu-fukut-taicho-?"

"Oh, congratulations, Akemi-chan! I'm so happy for you! When I heard the news, I could hardly contain it!" She released me, and when I was able to see again, I saw that Renji, Lieutenant of the 6th Squad, had placed a hand on her shoulder as a warning for her to let up. "Oh, and the Captain sends his regards, too. He wanted to be here, but had other matters to tend to." I highly doubted Captain Hitsugaya ever wanted to be near a bar of any kind, but I smiled nonetheless.

"Honestly, I didn't know I was being thrown a _party_," I said, growling out the words to Hana, who dismissed them over a sip of her cherry-colored drink. Even from here it smelled strong, and I was sitting across the round table from her.

"It's not a party," she said calmly. "I just wanted to get a few people together, that's all. And this was the only table left, as you should have noticed."

I did notice, but I wasn't about to admit that. The fact of the matter was that it could easily fit a dozen people and allow them to have elbow room.

Renji sat the drink in his hand down in front of me. "That's for you," he said and slid into the booth next to Hana. Next to him slid Rukia, Lieutenant of the 5th Squad. Both were nearly as comical as Tetsuya and Ren. Renji was also a large male, although not nearly as tall or as bulky as Tetsuya. He also had tattoos across his body, black geometric designs that used to make me wonder why he ever got them. However, now that I knew him better, they fit him perfectly. The ones on his forehead were covered by a large burgundy headband, same color as Ren's hair. Renji's hair, however, was bright red and long, held back by a high ponytail. Rukia was much shorter than Renji, and at the same height as Ren. Her short black hair framed her face perfectly with a few strands falling across her face. No matter how many barrettes and clips she had tried in the past they were persistent in escaping. Now, she just let them hang where they wanted.

As Rukia handed Renji a drink, I realized that as of tomorrow, none of them would be called "fukutaicho" by me, since we would now be at the same level in rank.

"Now, what was it you wanted to vent about?" Hana asked as I took a sip of the drink Renji had set before me.

I glared at her above my glass, the sweet and bitter liquid filling my mouth and warming my throat. Whatever it was, it was good and tasted like pomegranate.

"Nothing at all," I said, my words spiked with venom that I hoped Hana would interpret. Now that others were here I couldn't possibly vent about my day. "I just wanted to have a drink with my friends."

Hana smiled knowingly, knowing full well no one would be looking at her.

"But, Akemi-chan, you need to look the part. You can't have your hair all done up like this anymore." Rangiku pulled at the clip holding my hair up so that my hair tumbled down my shoulders.

"Hey!" I said in surprise and reached for the clip, but Rangiku tossed it to Hana. "What was that for? Nanao-fukutaicho wears her hair up and you don't get onto her!" It was strange having my hair down and crowding my face, creating a brown frame around my vision. I kept pushing it behind my ear, but it insisted on escaping.

"Nanao-chan can get away with it. It just makes her scarier-looking," Hana said, placing my hair clip beside her glass.

"You, on the other hand, still look like a healer, not a Lieutenant. You need to look fierce." I nearly laughed because Rangiku looked anything but fierce, and she had been a Lieutenant longer than I had been alive. Her strawberry blonde hair tumbled in curls and twisted beneath her chin, her bangs framing her face perfectly. A beauty mark graced the skin below the right side of her mouth. Her usual chain necklace disappeared between her breasts, and a pink scarf, pinker than Ren's, was tied around her shoulders. She was anything but fierce.

"Also, no more of this 'fukutaicho' honorific stuff, kay?" she said. "You're the same rank as us now." This only confirmed my earlier suspicion. Rangiku smiled, her eyes crinkling in the same way that Captain Unohana's did when she offered a threat or warning in the form of a pleasant comment. "Loosen up a little." Before I knew it, her hands had grabbed the neckline of my shihakusho and white undergarment and pulled so that my breasts matched hers in how much cleavage showed. I immediately swatted her hands away and pulled the fabric close again, the warm air of the bar chilling the suddenly exposed skin.

"That's not fierce," Hana pointed out before taking another sip.

"I blame you," I growled at her. She winked over her glass. Rangiku gave me an exasperated look while the others pretended this wasn't happening. "I do not have breasts to show!" I said, although it must have been a little loud because several shinigami nearby looked over in curiosity.

"Yes, you do," Ren said casually, sliding in beside me with Tetsuya resting against the side of the booth, even though there was plenty of room for him to sit. Him, and six other people.

"_You_ are not helping," I said, but she ignored me.

"Take Rangiku-fukutaicho's advice," she continued. "She usually knows best about how to show off your assets."

"This coming from you," I replied cooly.

She smirked. "How else do I get Tetsuya to bed every night?"

"Seriously ya'll?" Taiki finally spoke up. I had honestly forgotten he was here. His thin glasses, messy brown hair and mousy face always made him look small and weak, but I knew for a fact he was anything but, even if he could sometimes be awkward.

Tetsuya finished the shot in his hand and said, "You know you like it." Which only made Taiki suddenly extremely interested in the drink in front of him, which had been reduced to mere ice, the liquid already gone. Must've been a rough day for him.

I sighed, eager to get them off my back. "_Fine_." I released the fabric, which fell back to how Rangiku had pulled it open, showing off my assets _nicely_.

"Hey, look," I new the voice immediately: it was suave, and dripping in venom. "My little sister's finally moving up in the world!" Kouki reached his hand over the booth's side and messed my hair. I didn't bother to try to hit him, but instead turned away from where I knew he was. Still, I could see him in my peripheral vision.

Today _really_ wasn't my day.

"How long you think she'll last? Two weeks? Five days? Four hours?" He snarled. "Psh. Like you'll make it that long."

I suddenly realized why Tetsuya had never sat down as he approached Kouki and glared down at him. He never touched him, but turned his usual cheerful face into a darkened glare.

"I believe you're done here," he growled. Kouki was easily half of Tetsuya's height and build, and even though he ranked higher than Tetsuya, Kouki still tried to hide the fear on his face with a smirking grin.

"She doesn't belong as a Lieutenant. You know that as well as I do." He snarled at Tetsuya. I could suddenly feel seven reiatsus rising in hostility at once. I, however, forced myself to become very interested in the carvings in the wood of the table.

"I said, you're done. Or do you need me to repeat myself?"

Something in Kouki's face changed, I noticed out of the corner of my eye and looked up. It was like an animal realizing he was prey to something much bigger than him. I looked past Tetsuya's shoulder and saw Lilynette, her single visible blush-pink eye narrowed. Although her frame was small, her hands were on her hips and she filled the room as if she was the biggest one there. As she was, her hollow mask was the remains of a helmet with two horns, one broken off, and it reached down to cover her left eye, rendering a small hole in the mask above her eye black. Above this, a red flame-like design rose up along her mask. She had grown her light green hair out since I had known her, so that it swept down past her shoulders, and her bangs had grown out to nearly obscure her only visible eye. All the Arrancar had been given a black hakama, black undershirt, and a white kosode, to be distinguished from the shinigami - as if their masks didn't do the trick - which she wore, but had had the sleeves cut away. The kosode was also pulled wide to show-off her small breasts, and dangling from one hand was an already half-empty glass with brown liquor.

Just seeing her made my day a thousand times brighter. I didn't move, though, because I could feel Kouki glaring into the back of my head. I turned around and returned it to him.

"No," he replied to Tetsuya, although he continued to glare at me. "I'm finished."

He disappeared through the thick throng of shinigami, leaving the table in a hostile silence for several long seconds. Once we could no longer feel his reiatsu, the tension in the air relaxed and Ren moved so that I could slide out and hug my friend. She was several inches shorter than me, which always made hugging slightly awkward.

She was several feet away, and I had to push past a few patrons before I could reach her. When I did, she growled, **"**You need to stop letting him run all over you," and punched me before I could even move to hug her, leaving a sting behind the wake of her fist. Although small, she could pack a punch, literally. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I don't let him run all over me," I said, looking her straight in the eye and folding my arms over my chest.

She only shouted, "Liar," to be heard easily over the loud mumble of the bar. In a thousand years I wouldn't be able to lie to her, much less now, having known her most of my life. Even Hana and Ren bought my lies most days, if I was conscious about how my face must look and the way I directed my body language. Lilynette was a different story.

Lilynette was always a different story.

I knew the others weren't paying us any attention, but I wanted to change the subject anyway. "Are you going to let me hug you or not?" I asked, trying to re-direct her attention.

"No," she said, her eye narrowed. The answer was curt.

I rolled my eyes and turned back around to head back to the booth, knowing she would follow on my heels. She pushed my back at this, and I could feel the glass in her hand. I turned my head just enough so she could see me stick out my tongue.

However, when I appeared next to the booth, it took Ren several minutes to even notice I was waiting to sit down again. She and Renji were in a deep discussion concerning something to do with the 6th squad. Rangiku and Hana even joined in every once in awhile, while Rukia and Taiki engaged in small talk behind Renji's and Hana's backs. Tetsuya had disappeared.

When I saw a slight pause in conversation, I lightly tapped Ren on the shoulder to get her attention, however, she merely turned her face to me and smiled mischievously. "Let me get in?"

She shook her head playfully. "Nope! That's what you get for getting up after being on the inside."

"Your fault for land-locking me." I mumbled and she winked. Instead, I leaned over her and grabbed my glass, tipping some of the bitterly sweet liquid into my mouth. In the time that I hadn't touched it, most of the ice had turned to water, adding the empty flavor to the otherwise perfect drink. As I chewed on ice, Hana seemed to realize I was still standing next to the table. Lilynette had hopped up to sit on the back of the booth behind Hana, crossing her legs like a drama queen.

"I'm glad you're back!" Hana exclaimed, drawing her words out slowly - a tip I had learned to notice that she was about to spring something on me.

"What?" I asked simply, warning bells going off in my head. She only ever spoke like that when she was up to something. Back at the Academy, she had done the same thing to wrangle me into a blind date. I could only hope that whatever she had planned now wouldn't be as awkward as that had been.

She pouted. "Don't act so excited." I shot her a look which she ignored and continued, the others talking over her. "Tetsuya mentioned that wanted to show you something at the training grounds. Something about reaching a new Hakudo?" She turned to Ren, who nodded.

"He's pretty proud of it," she said, cupping her chin in her hand. A hint of amused adoration tinged her words. "He just achieved it yesterday." She looked up at me, her grey eyes large and sparkling.

It was rare for Ren to join in to Hana's antics, which made me hopeful that Hana didn't have something up her sleeve. Still, the situation was too odd.

"Why didn't he wait until I got back to mention it to me?" I asked, looking around for him.

"He's pretty excited. He went on ahead," Ren said.

"Yeah, he needed to pick up his zanpakuto," Hana replied.

"Wait," I said, the situation finally dawning on me. "He wants to show me now?"

Ren nodded enthusiastically.

"He couldn't wait until I was sober again?"

Hana scoffed. "You're fine. You're not even stumbling yet."

I glared at her. "I've been drinking."

"You've only had one." Renji said, a smirk playing on his lips as he looked across the table at me. He must have broken off conversation with Rangiku to say this. She was leaning over the table towards him, her breasts spilling out onto the wood and an annoyed expression darkened her face. "It wasn't that strong."

"Ya'll suck." I said, knocking back the rest of it.

"You know it's true," Rangiku-chan said with a smile. Honestly, I was feeling a little unstable, but nothing that I'd confess to. I could at least walk in a straight line. That line just got a little wobbly, even on my way back from greeting Lilynette.

"Fine," I sighed. "Do I need anything?"

The question was directed at Ren, but Hana answered with a quick, "Your zanpakuto!"

There went the warning bells again. Rangiku had finally gotten Renji to look back at her, but Taiki and Rukia had never abandoned their conversation. Ren was trying to get Lilynette's attention, and Hana was the only one full-out staring at me.

"I know you have something up your sleeve," I warned. "I just don't know what." I swallowed the last chunk of ice and left quickly, heading back to the 4th division's barrack's.

Beneath each bed there was a place to store the zanpakuto, which was where I found **Mori no kemono** resting peacefully. I tied her to my obi and headed towards the only training grounds our little group ever practiced in. It was a natural place, located in a small pocket of trees on the very edge of the Seireitei. These pockets popped up everywhere near the wall as a place for shinigami to come to train with their shikai, bankai, or to practice fighting with one another. Each grove was nice in that it blocked reiatsu from those on the outside of its cover, so that emergencies weren't raised if a Captain decided to let loose some steam. Each pocket was different, some with ice, desert, cliffs, or trees. An unnatural place in the middle of the Seireitei to hone your skills. It was especially nice if you needed to escape from the training grounds at the barracks, where anyone in your squad could watch, much like the one in the 11th squad.

This was where I lived. Away from the hustle of every day life, and away from nosy eyes.

And tonight, it seemed to come alive beneath the full moon, which casted it's dim light over everything.


End file.
